NHS faces demands for refunds after drug ruling

THE health service is set to face a string of compensation claims from cancer patients after its U-turn on top-up payments.

It comes after yesterday's landmark announcement that patients who buy their own life-extending medication will no longer lose their free NHS care.

Previously those who paid for drugs not available on the NHS were excluded from the health service. Patients will now be allowed NHS care as long as they pay for the cost of any staff time, tests and scans associated with the extra drugs they buy.

But many cancer patients have already spent their life savings on treatment that will now be available free.

Simon Swaffield of Swaffields solicitors said: "If I was a cancer patient I would be distinctly galled that I had blown my life savings, knowing that if I had been diagnosed later I would not have. I would encourage people to apply for refunds. It is a fairly logical next step for patients in this position." Primary Care Trusts currently decide if a patient is an "exceptional" case and eligible for medication not normally available on the NHS.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Health said: "Primary Care Trusts have made decisions based on each individual case so it is down to them to determine what to do. There is no ban on refunds but it is down to PCTs."

Mr Swaffield said: " I would hope that as a gesture of goodwill PCTs would want to do this. Many have surplus funds because they have underspent." But he warned that trying to apply legislation retrospectively is always difficult.

Last week the Standard revealed that cancer sufferers have already started demanding compensation from London PCTs for the cost of medication they paid for privately.

At least three London trusts have been targeted by patients making compensation claims and one has already refunded a patient for a drug it initially refused to buy. Bromley PCT has paid money back to a patient, while Hillingdon and Wandsworth PCTs have been approached for compensation.

Ian Reynolds, chairman of Wandsworth PCT, said: "We're being sent bills by people turned down by exceptional treatment panels and who have then gone private. We're not liable to pay but the reality is that these claims will now end up in court."

In a speech to the House of Commons yesterday, Health Secretary Alan Johnson said fewer patients should be forced to "top up" their care because drug rationing watchdog Nice will speed up its appraisal process for new drugs.

Ian Beaumont, campaigns director, Bowel Cancer UK, welcomed the changes but added: "The bad news is that, longer term, the concept of "separate care" will act as a disincentive for Nice and Primary Care Trusts to approve future new treatments."